Second Havenite-Manticoran War
The Second Havenite-Manticoran War (1919 - 1922 PD) was an armed conflict fought between the Republic of Haven and the Manticoran Alliance. Because the First Havenite-Manticoran War was not concluded with a formal peace treaty, it was in fact the second stage of the Havenite-Manticoran War (1905 - 1922 PD). Prelude The First Havenite-Manticoran War ended in 1915 PD as a result of the deployment of Manticoran Alliance naval developments which came very near to a complete military defeat for Haven. The war ended in a ceasefire on the brink of Manticoran victory, when many members of government from both Grayson and the Star Kingdom, including the Manticoran Prime Minister Duke Cromarty, were assassinated; the succeeding Manticoran Government unilaterally agreed to it, to the outrage of the rest of the Manticoran Alliance. Taking advantage of the disarray in the House of Lords majority Cromarty had been able to keep together, several opposition leaders united to form a new Government. Baron High Ridge, Lady Elaine Descroix, and Countess New Kiev's first action was to accept an offer of cease-fire in place from Oscar Saint-Just of Haven, despite the fact that the Royal Manticoran Navy was only weeks away from achieving what appeared to be an absolute victory. Five years later, the High Ridge Manticoran Government continued its deliberate policy of refusing to negotiate in good faith with Haven, avoiding a peace treaty and so an end to the existing tax policy and emergency powers available to them. It was essentially a ploy driven by Manticoran political considerations. Due to the distorted policy and advice from Edward Janacek, then-First Lord of the Admiralty, the High Ridge government policy came to rely on an expectation that Haven would never be able to catch up in naval developments and so would not challenge the Manticoran Alliance. They did not know, partly because of the inadequacy of Janacek's choice for Naval Intelligence chief, that President Eloise Pritchart and Secretary of War/Chief of Naval Operations Thomas Theisman had maintained the existing secret research and development effort at Bolthole, and with a new commander (Admiral Shannon Foraker), had been able to largely compensate for the Manticoran Alliance's technological advances. Using Bolthole, Theisman built a new wall of battle which was nearly at parity with Manticore's. Combined with existing units, the Republic of Haven's Navy outnumbered Manticore's substantially. It was intended as an insurance policy against possible future Manticoran aggression; neither side wanted to resume a shooting war. However, Arnold Giancola, then-Secretary of State of the Republic, believed that Pritchart was wrong to be passive towards Manticore, and had ambitions to become President. He decided to provoke a crisis to make President Pritchart's policy appear ineffective by editing diplomatic messages between Haven and Manticore. He was able to do so in part because a confederate was the Havenite representative on Manticore, and in part because State Security Intelligence had stolen a Manticoran Foreign Office digital signature key. In addition, Mesan agents in both Haven and Manticore assisted because it was in Mesa's interest to restart the shooting phase of the war. Thus, for different reasons, the correspondence being exchanged by both sides served to annoy and finally to enrage both sides. Course of War The results were predictable, at least to an omniscient observer. The Pritchart Administration came to believe that the High Ridge Government would not only not agree to a peace treaty, but had decided to unilaterally seize captured Havenite territory. Pritchart opted to preempt that intent and to attempt to force Manticore to negotiate. At her direction, Theisman organized Operation Thunderbolt, a massive attack by the Republican Navy on all Manticoran positions. Despite the efforts of Honor Harrington, who decisively defeated Admiral Lester Tourville's Second Fleet in the Second Battle of Marsh, Haven regained all of the territories that had been captured in the first shooting phase of the war, except for Trevor's Star, which was saved as a result of an emergency reinforcement in force by the Grayson Space Navy. ( ) After the Battle of Manticore, both sides had lost large portions of their offensive power. Once the Manticoran Home Fleet was reformed, Admiral Alexander-Harrington and Eighth Fleet were sent to attempt to secure a peace treaty. Due to Operation Oyster Bay, Mesa's devastating attack on the Manticore and Yeltsin's Star System's infrastructure, both were recalled. ( ) End of the War The arrival of Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki to Havenite space, and their revelations of the masterminds of both Havenite-Manticoran Wars, the Legislaturalists (at least DuQuesne), and Oyster Bay, President Pritchart traveled to Manticore and entered into an informal, at least temporary, military Grand Alliance against the Mesan Alignment and the soon to be defunct Solarian League. ( ) References Category:Specific Events Category:Wars Category:Manticore Category:Republic of Haven